The series premiered on HBO Sunday. Episode 2 is set to air on Friday.
1 of 6 | Bill Skarsgard will reprise his role of Pennywise the clown in the new horror series “It: Welcome to Derry.” Photo courtesy of HBO
Producer Barbara Muschietti says viewers will have to wait a bit to see Bill Skarsgard terrorize the titular town as Pennywise in the new It prequel series, Welcome to Derry.
“He is our ‘shark’ and we believe wholeheartedly that we can’t allow the audience to get comfortable with him. We have to hide the ball,” Barbara told the crowd at New York Comic Con, comparing the sewer-dwelling killer clown to the little-seen, man-eating fish in the movie Jaws.
Barbara’s brother Andy, who directed the pilot episode, added: “There was an intention to the late appearance [of the entity It] in Pennywise form. It creates this anticipation, this buildup, this suspense.
“Part of this unpredictability is, ‘When is this clown going to show up?’ I can’t tell you when,” he said. “But he will. I think it’s an interesting game because, of course, It’s a shape-shifter. He’s present in other incarnations for a run, for a while. And then, when you least expect it, there he is.”
Set in a quiet Maine town where horrible things happen to children every 27 years, the series premiered Sunday on HBO and HBO Max. Episode 2 is set to air on Friday, Halloween night.
The series takes place largely in 1962 — before the two It blockbuster films — and draws from material from Stephen King’s classic horror novel. Its cast includes Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, James Remar, Chris Chalk, Stephen Rider and Matilda Lawler.
Andy said the idea for a prequel series was born from conversations he had with Skarsgard as they were making 2019’s It: Chapter 2.
“We started somehow speculating and fantasizing about a new story, a new movie, which was basically the origin story of Pennywise,” Andy recalled.
“How did It become the clown? What role did the infamous and cryptic Bob Gray play in the story? So, those were the conversations,” he said. “Then, we all went in separate ways. Actors that are in a role, they go and make a bunch of movies. Bill did and he did great. We went on our own adventure. But, after a while, I picked it up again and went back into the book.”
Andy said he saw that there was a lot of fascinating information King included that hadn’t yet been filmed.
“I sort of focused on the interludes,” he added. “Stephen King creates all these enigmas and big question marks to create tension. But, for me, at that point, it was like, ‘What if this is a blueprint for a different story?'”
One character whose story Andy really wanted to dig into was Leroy Hanlon (Adepo), the grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who was played by Chozen Jacobs in It and by Isaiah Mustafa in It: Chapter Two.
Mike is a lifelong Derry resident and historian who tries to piece together where It came from and how it might be stopped.
“The interludes are a document that is the product of his investigation, which is a very fragmented document where he compiles all the experiences of people in the past and where he tries to, basically, figure out what It is,” Andy said. “But, it’s inconclusive.”
Barbara said she and her brother took their ideas to the “great Stephen King, who loved the idea and supported us.”
“It was early 2020,” she added. “We talked to Warner. They bought it in the room and here we are.”
